


Of Customers and First Meetings

by JanaRumpandRCJawnn (JanaRumpandRCJawwn)



Series: Modern Magic [2]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 13:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8210626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JanaRumpandRCJawwn/pseuds/JanaRumpandRCJawnn
Summary: Takahiro had never pictured himself as a merchant, but over the years he had grown not only to like it, but to actually be unable to see himself doing anything else.And that was in no small part thanks to his customers - not all of them, everyone working in retail-like things could tell you that people are complete assholes 80% of the time. However, there were the memorable ones that really made a day interesting.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted to write more about this world. 
> 
> This is more a introductory to a lot of the the other characters and their little bits in the world

The shop was named Modern Magic. 

Hanamaki had bought it so long ago the name was almost ironical. It was well located, in a nice neighborhood around many communities of non humans, a perfect place to make sure his business did well. The store itself had been altered along the years, but it had remained always crowded, the walls covered in shelves full of glass containers for all kinds of ingredients. Watari, as a nymph and a friend, had given them lots of plants to put inside, from shining succulents to fly-eating ones that now integrated the look (to give Makki’s shop a more mystical vibe, he'd said, whatever that actually meant). Takahiro had never pictured himself as a merchant, but over the years he had grown not only to like it, but to actually be unable to see himself doing anything else.

And that was in no small part thanks to his customers - not all of them, everyone working in retail-like things could tell you that people are complete assholes 80% of the time. However, there were the memorable ones that really made a day interesting.

 

One of his most interesting customers was the one that didn’t speak. He was also perhaps the oldest customer they had, had appeared on the first week the shop had opened. Big eyes, dark hair, large clothes, a stripped cat resting on his shoulders - not really cat, Makki realized decades later, when Akira joined their household - and no obvious signs to what sort of being he was. He had passed a small piece of paper to Makki on top of the counter, requesting a kilo of sliced mandrake, a pouch of human teeth and bull saliva. 

It was an unusual request, perhaps even weirder since it was all at once, but Hanamaki knew better than to interrogate his customers about why they were buying anything. So he just exchanged glances with Issei and went to grab everything. The customer paid and then was on his way. It was weird, but soon enough the witch forgot about all that.

Until precisely four years later when the customer came back, ordered the same thing and then was on his way, not a word said about it. The weird routine kept up, for decades now. Hanamaki was sure there was something more about it, Issei and him had bets going on even. They looked through all sorts of magic books but there was not a potion, spell or ritual that required all three of those ingredients. He loved a mystery, but after a century and six decades he'd had enough. 

Eventually he just had to ask. They did have some sort of intimacy by now, right? The young man just stared at him and tilted his head. He didn’t reply, but the cat on his shoulder did, shouting in excitement.

”It took you guys long enough!” He cackled, his paw thumping on the customer’s shoulder in a way that had to be painful. “He’s fucking with you!” 

Takahiro stared at them for a moment, before the customer shrugged and nodded, a sly smirk appearing on his lips. He then took a piece of paper, writing on it and handing it over.

_We had a bet, you guys lasted the longer without asking about our random buys. It means nothing, we just rolled a dice for it._

Next to him, Issei started laughing. They had been tricked, Hanamaki hadn't thought it was something that could happen, especially in such a stupid way. Yet those two had proven him wrong. He nodded before resting his forehead on his hands, chuckling to himself. Eventually he looked up again, feeling a bit defeated.

“Well played.”

 

Another memorable case was that one time with the arm.

Issei and him were hanging at the front desk, his friend reading a newspaper and Makki making little lights with his fingers out of boredom. Akira for one had given up on any interaction, having been sleeping on the counter the whole afternoon. 

That was until they walked in. 

Two young men, dressed in casual clothes, one blond and one with white/gray/black/whatever hair. Nothing of real notice if it wasn’t for the fact that the buff one had his arm halfway inside the blond’s chest. Magically so, not almost-killing-someone so. 

“You gotta help us!” He shouted, loud enough that everyone - even poor Akira - looked up in surprise.

Hanamaki wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do, so he waited until both of them came close enough to inspect what the hell had happened. The blond one was blushing and looking down, seeming completely embarrassed by the whole ordeal while his friend went off talking. 

“I’m Bokuto and this is Konoha, he fucked up a spell and we got stuck together.” 

“Witch?” Takahiro asked, fairly interested in this mess. It was not every day things went this poorly. 

“Half Fae.” Konoha explained, seeming incredibly uncomfortable about it all. 

Fae magic was tricky, much more primal than witch magic. Makki jumped over the counter to take a better look at them, Issei and Akira watching it like they were expecting to be entertained once he fucked up as well. The fucking little shits were nasty like that. 

The next four hours were very tiring, the spell very difficult to undo without Bokuto losing his arm. Not that the boy himself wasn’t making things slightly harder by talking non stop about everything. He discovered that he used to be an owl plushie (?) that after being exposed to the magic of a coven of witches for centuries had gained sentience. Takahiro considered that the kid could be fucking with him, but he seemed all too honest for that, incapable of actually lying. Besides, Konoha confirmed all the story. Apparently there was a third party on it, the blond’s boyfriend a witch that used to be the owner of Bokuto’s plushie form. It all seemed too pinocchio-like, but oh well, who was Makki to judge. 

After almost fucking up twice, he did manage to separate their bodies. To which he received all Bokuto had to his name - three bucks, as it seemed being an ex-toy didn’t render that much money - and the promise this wouldn't ever ever happen again.

Needless to say it did, at least twice a month throughout the next year or so. Good thing they were the store's neighbors and no one permanently lost any limbs.

 

Hanamaki had to admit that even after such a long time living, some part of him still considered himself human. It was a part of his identity, and being a witch sometimes seemed more like his job. Issei had a lot of that too.

That was until that guy came over.

He arrived in a very rainy day, wearing sunglasses and carrying a skull print umbrella, his bright red hair contrasting with it all. . His posture was tense as he entered the shop, as if bracing himself for a reaction. Hanamaki just sighed from his place behind the counter.

“Welcome to Modern Magic. For all your magicky needs, we do curses, counter spells and average spells too. We don’t do love potions, no matter how much you insist.”

“Do you have synthetic blood?”

The man was fast, somehow already standing in front of Takahiro as he asked that, looming over a bit. Anyway, Makki frowned, because that was not something people bought a lot. Besides the occasional vampire or teenager wanting to be edgy, most people felt disgusted by it. The man in front of him was wearing a scarf around his neck, so if he was a vampire his ID collar was hidden.

“We do. Let me grab it for you, how much?”

“Enough to last a month.”

Hanamaki nodded and got up, subtly kicking Issei so he would come along to the freezer in the deposit. 

“You think he is a vampire?”

“That or he's dating one.” 

From the front the customer replied.

“Both.” 

Makki returned to the room with roughly thirty small bags of synthetic blood, which was a lot. Even when Issei had dated a vampire, he'd never carried that much blood around. He had no clue how the guy would even carry all this home. He put all the bags on the counter and looked up to the guy, then back to the bags. The vampire arched an eyebrow, seeming annoyed by something, eyes narrowed.

“What’s the problem? Not expecting a vampire? No one ever actually expects vampires to show up. Well, guess what? I need to feed myself, like anyone. Not everyone is able to live the pretty life of a witch or a fairy.”

Hanamaki’s first reaction was to be offended, because he had gone through a lot to be a witch, it wasn’t fair. But the the vampire just kept going, and he had to give the guy some credit. 

“And I’ll bet you’re thinking I’m just overthinking, but I have to deal a lot of shit every damn day, and I’m just not in the mood to get judged even when I’m buying the crap food everyone thinks is acceptable.” 

Issei stepped in, saving Makki from having to close his gaping mouth.

“We actually are interested in hearing your thoughts - I used to date a vampire, she said some stuff like that too. It’s just we were wondering how the hell are you taking all those bags home.” 

The mention of another vampire seemed to catch the guy off guard, and he visibly relaxed, then at last took backpack from wherever he'd hidden it and opened it to put the bags inside.

“Like this. And don’t need to lie, I know no one wants to hear a vampire complaining, specially not when you are working. I’m sorry I over reacted? It’s just hell, being a _predator_ in this shit whole society.”

“You know what?” Takahiro caught himself saying. “I’ll give you a discount since you’re buying so much. And I would actually like if you came back and explained more to us.”

The customer blinked with his wallet in hand, seeming very confused and not fully trusting the situation. Issei stepped in again, offering his hand and smiling.

“I’m Matsukawa Issei, the resident undead. And this is Hanamaki Takahiro, part time little shit full time witch.”

The vampire shook it, still a bit speechless.

“Tendou Satori, recent vampire, activist for predator rights and part time asshole.”

 

And last but not least, in the mist of all his crazy customers, there were the average ones that perhaps were special _because_ of their domesticity, not despite it.

They were a young couple, a naga and a human boy. Both of them used to come on Fridays to buy materials to make sweets, and that day it was no different. Issei poked Takahiro’s ribs and pointed to the outside window, so he looked up to see them coming, Yamaguchi carrying his Naga partner on his arms until the door of the shop, then putting them down and smiling openly. Tsukishima rolled his eyes, pushing the door open and sliding in. Hanamaki leaned on to the counter, smirking.

“Good to see you. In what can we help you today?”

Tsukishima ignored him, sliding towards the ingredients. They usually did that, avoiding any resemblance of niceness. Their boyfriend on the other hand approached the counter, smirking back even.

“The usual, though Kei was considering getting some pixie dust for cupcakes. It’s gonna be adorable.”

“Shut up, Tadashi.”

The human did not care, just kept on smiling at Takahiro. He was completely unfazed by everything, just looking adoringly as his datemate went around, so obviously in love that Hanamaki was sure the kids were the protagonists of some shoujo shit. By what he had managed to get Yamaguchi to tell him, they had lived the perfect high school sweethearts story. It was adorable. Especially after all those years roaming Earth, Takahiro sometimes could feel the hope and trust on people’s goodness fading, but even him in all his might witchcraft had to admit seeing them inside his shop made his heart warm. That was when they weren’t both being salty little shits that is - other than cutesy inside, Tsukihima and Yamaguchi were some mean teasing little shits, sometimes even worse then himself and Issei. The first few times they had come, Tadashi had roasted other customers that gave them dirty looks while they walked hand in hand or did anything couply. It had been an amazing thing to watch, worth popcorn and all. Those two were vicious, but then again most non-human/human relationships needed that sort of ability to not be damaged by everyone’s nasty opinions.

He and Yamaguchi spent some time taking as usual, mostly about their bakery shop and how it was going okay - Hanamaki made a mental note to order some cakes and milky breads for Tooru’s birthday - and the changes on the neighborhood, with the fancy ghoul-friendly restaurant that was going to open in a couple of weeks. Nothing too personal, but enough to feel like a friend. Eventually Tsukishima found themselves to the counter, carrying the week’s supplies of magical (or at least weird) things. 

“Is that a new piercing?” He heard Issei asking as he rang the items up, pointing at the green-haired’s ear.

“Yep! Tsukki got one too.” And he pointed at the naga’s nose, where a golden septum ring now was. 

“Looks awesome.”

“Of course it does.” Tsukishima replied, opening their bag to take a wallet, or at least that was what Hanamaki was expecting, but instead he got handed a black envelope with silver frills.

He frowned them. Kei seemed very bored while Yamaguchi couldn’t contain a smile. He was gonna open it, but Issei just grabbed the envelop and did it too fast. He started reading out loud, probably thinking it was something embarrassing, but his words died in less than a moment. He handed it to Hanamaki a bit dumbfounded, which was fair, since his own mouth was hanging open too a couple moments later.

“You are getting married?”

The blond nodded, their tail going from it’s usual greyish to a pinkish color, just as his expression changed from bored to proud. Their boyfriend leaned in closer and threw his arm over the Naga’s shoulders.

“We would be very happy if you guys could come. It was a fucking pain in the ass getting the documents.”

"Damn sure we'll be there." Issei replied, smirking and resting his elbow on Hanamaki's shoulder.

Takahiro could only think he would have to find the cheesiest wedding gift for them, if only to see Tsukishima's disgusted face.

**Author's Note:**

> So this is it, I'm hoping to write more on this Au 
> 
> Kudos, comments and anything are always appreacited.
> 
> Kissus  
> -jawwn


End file.
